1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for, in a bag-making and packaging machine in which a horizontal bag-making machine and a packaging machine are provided together and operate together, successively feeding bags manufactured by the horizontal bag-making machine to the belt conveyor of a conveyor magazine-type bag feeder of the packaging machine, without temporarily stocking the bags.
2. Description of the Related Art
A horizontal bag-making machine manufactures bags by: rewinding a belt-shaped film from a film roller of which axle is set horizontally; folding this belt-shaped film while feeding it in the longitudinal direction; effecting seals at places corresponding to the bag bottom and sides by a sealing device while intermittently feeding this belt-shaped film in the longitudinal direction in a horizontal plane while it is made to lie flush down laterally, thus forming connected bags connected in a belt shape; and then cutting and separating the individual bags from the tip end of the connected bags. Among such machines, there are a one-row type machine (wherein there is one row of connected bags) as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) Nos. 2004-42447, 2004-244085 and 2006-111346, and a two-row type machine (wherein there are two rows of connected bags, and two bags are fed out in parallel) as described in Japanese Patent Nos. 3840255 and 3105568.
On the other hand, among packaging machines, there are those in which two bag feeders are provided as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) Nos. 2004-42447 and 2004-244085, those in which only one bag feeder is provided as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 2006-111346 and Japanese Patent No. 3105568, and those in which four bag feeders are provided as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 2002-308223. The packaging machines receive one bag at a time from one of or from each one of a plurality of bag feeders, respectively (receiving a plural number of bags simultaneously if there is a plural number of bag feeders), and, at the same time, implement packaging processes.
In the bag-making and packaging machines described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) Nos. 2004-42447, 2004-244085 and 2006-111346, the orientation of the bags (the direction in which the bag mouth opens) manufactured by the bag-making machine and the orientation of the bags in the bag feeders of the packaging machines are aligned. As a consequence, the bags manufactured by the bag-making machines can be sent to the bag feeders of packaging machines as they are without changing the orientation thereof.
In a bag-making and packaging machine, it is common to provide the bag-making machine and the packaging machine so that the orientation of the bags manufactured by the bag-making machine and the orientation of the bags in the bag feeder of the packaging machine are aligned. However, in some cases, due to layout limitations in a factory, these orientations cannot be aligned. Furthermore, the horizontal bag-making machines of high processing power are generally of the two-row type or of the four row type (2 rows×2); and in these horizontal bag-making machines, as described in, for example, Japanese Patent No. 3840255, the bags manufactured face different orientations (so that the bag mouths face each other). In such cases, some means for changing orientations of the bags become necessary between the bag-making machine and the bag feeder.
Furthermore, just as there are one-row types, two-row types, and four-row types and the like in bag-making machines, in packaging machines, there are those that have one bag feeder and those that have a plural number of bag feeders. When such a bag-making machine and a packaging machine are combined to form a bag-making and packaging machine and are operated together (so that the number of bags made by the bag-making machine and the number of processes effected by the packaging machine coincide), it is of course possible that the number of rows of bags fed out from the bag-making machine and the number of bag feeders would be different. In such a case, some means become necessary between the bag-making machine and the bag feeders for compensating for the difference between the number of rows and the number of machines, so that bags will be supplied uniformly to all of the bag feeders.
The above-described Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) Nos. 2004-42447 and 2004-244085 disclose bag-feeding packaging machines in which a one-row bag-making machine and a packaging machine having two bag feeders are combined together. In either publications, however, there is no disclosure on what to do in the case that the orientation of bags manufactured by the bag-making machine and the orientation of bags in the bag feeder of the packaging machine are different or on the case that a two-row bag-making machine is employed.
On the other hand, the above-described Japanese Patent No. 3105568 discloses a bag-making and packaging machine in which a two-row bag-making machine and a packaging machine having one bag feeder are combined. However, the invention of this publication is limited to a means for changing two rows to one row, and it is presupposed that the orientation of the bags manufactured by the bag-making machine and the orientation of the bags in the bag feeder of the packaging machine coincide. Furthermore, the invention is for a type of apparatus that stacks and bundles the bags to stock them, and no consideration is given to applications for conveyor magazine-type bag feeders.